I have been hunting all my life and shot my first big-game animal - a white tail deer - nearly 40 years ago. Since then I have taken well over 100 large animals - and countless rabbits and birds - and I still experience that feeling of sadness after the kill. If I ever loose that feeling of remorse after the kill I will sell off all my long-guns and take up golf!
dipping my toes in...
- Thread starter Candychikita
- Start date
I have been hunting all my life and shot my first big-game animal - a white tail deer - nearly 40 years ago. Since then I have taken well over 100 large animals - and countless rabbits and birds - and I still experience that feeling of sadness after the kill. If I ever loose that feeling of remorse after the kill I will sell off all my long-guns and take up golf!
Don't dwell on the killing. The enjoyment in hunting is much more than just getting an animal. Some of my top ten hunts didn't result in any meat at all. Maybe you don't want to pull the trigger the first time out, it may help to be there just to experience it first hand? It's a unique experience that can be quite moving, and may be easier to witness it before it's you behind the trigger.
Even if it's not for you, thank you for trying it for yourself and forming your own opinions. Best of luck and hears to many years of full freezers.
Even if it's not for you, thank you for trying it for yourself and forming your own opinions. Best of luck and hears to many years of full freezers.
heavyBullet
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
- Location
- Just off the island of MTL
I do not experience sadness, but I always run my hand over the deer and look at it from different angles and really appreciate its beauty, and strength.
I think if you start off on hunts where you are not the shooter, but are there for the kills, it prepares you more, for when you yourself have killed a deer. This is how I started out over 25yrs. ago.
The one time where I did just feel horrible, was when I shot my first rabbit when I was around 14 or 15, and I did not make a great shot, and only wounded to poor thing, and it cried just like a baby.
I think if you start off on hunts where you are not the shooter, but are there for the kills, it prepares you more, for when you yourself have killed a deer. This is how I started out over 25yrs. ago.
The one time where I did just feel horrible, was when I shot my first rabbit when I was around 14 or 15, and I did not make a great shot, and only wounded to poor thing, and it cried just like a baby.
You obviously missed the point- this thread is about encouraging a new hunter to join the ranks.
Logan_Lamothe
Regular
- Location
- Big River, Sask
When I harvest an animal I feel a rush that makes my hands shake and me feel pumped and excited.
You are wise.......
I once read " When I hike in the woods I observe nature, when I hunt I become part of nature by taking my place in the circle of life."
I don't think anyone can put fully into words the emotions of hunting. Do I feel a little sadness, yes, happiness, yes, elation, yes,.....it's like an emotional stew. All the work in preparing your hunt, scouting, stealth, realizing that the game have a definite advantage in their environment, the hours spent in silence waiting, the fun, the boredom, everything comes down to that moment where you decide if a living creature lives or dies goes into that shot.......and all those emotions are going to go through you after. Everything that lives eventually dies. Just as most living creatures permit others to live through their death. It is complex and everyone seems to live it in their own way. Two years ago I lost a sister at the age of 44. I believe that because I am a hunter that has dealt with the emotions of death over and over again that I came to accept her death better than most in the family.
I respect the fact that you are questioning yourself about hunting. It says alot about you. In my opinion it makes us better people. As I write all of this I still feel like I've only touched the tip of the iceberg. It's hard to explain. At times people will ask me why I hunt......I tell them that I have to explain it, you wouldn't understand it.
There are those that find hunting to be just a pastime or only a way to fill the freezer......but to some of us it is a way of life that goes much deeper.
heavyBullet
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
- Location
- Just off the island of MTL
If you do end up feeling bad, just remember than vehicles kill 10 times more deer and moose than hunters do, and the meat goes to waste unlike when a hunter pulls the trigger.
- Location
- Fraser Valley
i think this is the fourth time i've attempted to write a response, and perhaps i might actually post this one. i must say that i'm in awe at the depth of feeling that remain long after your first kills, as well as pleasantly surprised. hunters are not the 'cold blooded killers' that the media always portrays! heh i'm game for wrecking all my hunting-related preconceived notions and am looking forward to my first hunt (albeit nervously and with ultimate respect)
i think if i can eat what i shoot, i may feel somewhat better about it. if i start with small game, is there enough left over to eat? it would seem like a waste of a life, in my mind, if i didn't put the bits to use. even if my first attempts at cooking them may not be gourmet masterpieces...
being so new to the shooting sports in general, i may be just trudging through the wild in full gear and watching this family do their thing, unless i'm sure of my shot. judging from the amount of animal heads on their walls, and their full freezers, they have potential to teach a lot of hands-on skills.
until then, i'll be researching and practicing for my fall debut. thanks to you all for the answers!
(albeit nervously and with ultimate respect)i think if i can eat what i shoot, i may feel somewhat better about it. if i start with small game, is there enough left over to eat? it would seem like a waste of a life, in my mind, if i didn't put the bits to use. even if my first attempts at cooking them may not be gourmet masterpieces...
being so new to the shooting sports in general, i may be just trudging through the wild in full gear and watching this family do their thing, unless i'm sure of my shot. judging from the amount of animal heads on their walls, and their full freezers, they have potential to teach a lot of hands-on skills.
until then, i'll be researching and practicing for my fall debut. thanks to you all for the answers!
heavyBullet
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
- Location
- Just off the island of MTL
I only shoot what I will eat, its how I was taught as a child, though many will disagree with me, but to each their own.
And yes after shooting small game there is plenty to eat.
- Location
- Ottawa, Ontario
I hear a great chance to have a gals out hunting trip.
after the hunt
I wish you the best of luck on your first big hunt. You've received some great advice already, don't buy everything in the store to start, you need the basics first, then go get the options in a couple years. The best advice you’ve received is to practice your shooting and to go with someone with experience.
Remember if you shoot a deer what will you do with it next? Shed a tear, that's fine for the moment and is prefectly fine; now tag, gut, load, transport, unload, hang, skin (order may differ) and process your meat in a clean and efficient manner as to not let it spoil. Shooting is the easy part.
My experience with new hunters is their enthusiasm is often greater then their preparation. We once met two guys out moose hunting (their first time) with a bull down, they had one pocket knife and they were driving a Honda Civic. Needless to say we helped them for the rest of the day getting the meat to cold storage. They learned a lesson that day and got their a$$es chewed. We're still friends with them 10 years later.
I wish you the best of luck on your first big hunt. You've received some great advice already, don't buy everything in the store to start, you need the basics first, then go get the options in a couple years. The best advice you’ve received is to practice your shooting and to go with someone with experience.
Remember if you shoot a deer what will you do with it next? Shed a tear, that's fine for the moment and is prefectly fine; now tag, gut, load, transport, unload, hang, skin (order may differ) and process your meat in a clean and efficient manner as to not let it spoil. Shooting is the easy part.
My experience with new hunters is their enthusiasm is often greater then their preparation. We once met two guys out moose hunting (their first time) with a bull down, they had one pocket knife and they were driving a Honda Civic. Needless to say we helped them for the rest of the day getting the meat to cold storage. They learned a lesson that day and got their a$$es chewed. We're still friends with them 10 years later.
There's a quote
"One does not hunt in order to kill. On the contrary, one kills in order to have hunted."
I enjoy the hunting aspect of it. It's irrelevent to me if I kill something.
Although I will admit to liking a nice moose steak.
"One does not hunt in order to kill. On the contrary, one kills in order to have hunted."
I enjoy the hunting aspect of it. It's irrelevent to me if I kill something.
Although I will admit to liking a nice moose steak.
A pocket knife and a civic.
Absolute true story. They had zero concept, their only consideration was to shoot.
When i was a kid and shot my first deer with my dad, i had a very sad feeling, and the old man said that it was a good thing!! As long as i felt like that, he said , i would be more appreciative of the whole experience. 30 yrs later i still feel a bit of sadness but............then i do envision all of the delicios meals it will provide!!LOL
